Jean Renoir's classic tale of a cotton picker (Zachary Scott) who moves his wife (Betty Field) and children to a run down farm in hopes that they can grow their own cotton and make for a better future.
The first 40 minutes of this film is so filled with moaning, groaning, whinging, bellyaching, bad temper, grumpy neighbors, kids screaming, and
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the non-stop yappy little terrier, that the only experience I have with which I can compare this is...the wretched apartment complex in which I have to live every day (shudder!). (Why would I want that in a movie when I only need to sit quietly in my livingroom to get it?) It wasn't five minutes before I wanted to wring sourpuss Granny Tucker's unhappy neck and drown her in the river (thank goodness that Betty Field's character [Nona] finally gives some of it back to her), and found myself quick-advancing through those parts of the film so that I didn't have to hear it. Then, when Sam and Nona bring their sick child into town to see the doctor, Tim invites Sam into the bar for a drink. No sooner do they enter and order two beers than a b-girl standing by the door tries to get her teeth into them with "Sure is hot in here. How 'bout a beer for me? I'm mighty thirsty." (Mighty subtle there, sweetie pie!) Sucker Tim buys her one and then asks for a date, and gets called a "pig" for his trouble. Blech. Entitlement princesses like this are my favorite pet peeve (entitlement princes too, for that matter, but no one can do entitlement like a woman), so I bailed at that point. I could see that there were good people in this too, like Indian Bear said, but I couldn't stick it out through the sludge long enough to see if I liked what came after. Oh well. One star even though I didn't stay to see the whole thing, so there. :P
Reviewer:Dr Feel Rotten
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December 11, 2010 Subject:
People love the good old days
They sure love them, but always forget just how many kids starved to death or died from diseases and couldn't even go to an ER when they got sick. They
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forget all about the extreme hardships people faced and that they didn't have hot water or running water or bathtubs or electricity and had landlord who wanted not only rent, but usually over half their earnings for all that hard work and sweat and if the weather didn't work out they plain starved or froze to death. I don't see a feel good to this. I see the reason we have social security and safety nets that some greedy people want to do away with. It was a well made movie, but to many people see it only for the feel good part ignoring the suffering these people endured over life times from generation to generation.
Reviewer:keygrip
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October 15, 2009 Subject:
A little treasure
Episodic feel good film with Zachary Scott in a rare leading man hero role and a good quality supporting cast featuring an almost unrecognisable Beula
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Bondi. Recommended viewing
Reviewer:irish66
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March 20, 2009 Subject:
encoding seems fine to me
I'm streaming this, and it seems fine to me. I've seen this a number of times before. Zachary scott usually played villians. This was a real change of
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pace for him, and he proves himself more than equal to the task.
Reviewer:kutindebewilling
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December 11, 2008 Subject:
Badly encoded
Could the person who uploaded this and many other movies in the archive please refrain from any further uploads until he or she has learned the basics
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of video encoding? For a start, please try to select the right framerate. You are wasting our time here.
Reviewer:Indianbear
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December 9, 2008 Subject:
Could be called a Norman Rockwell picture.
Sometimes you get lucky. I have read comments like "a hidden gem" or "underrated classic" describing other films, but I never thought I would use those
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clichés myself. However, I find they are a comfortable fit for "The Southerner." Released in 1945 it was nominated for three Academy Awards; best director, music and sound. Staring Zachary Scott as Sam Tucker, Betty Field as his wife Nona, J. Carrol Naish as their grumpy neighbor Devers, Beulah Bondi as Granny Tucker, Percy Kilbride (think Pa Kettle) as Harmie, and Charles Kemper as Sam’s friend Tim. Sam is a share cropper. He wants a better life for his family, and makes arrangements to take over a deserted piece of land so he can "raise his own crops." The fulfilling of that very human desire makes for more than just enjoyable family entertainment. You'll get to spend about an hour and a half with some very real and heart touching people. There are of course good times and bad times, good people and some not so good people, dreams lost and dreams recovered. This film is not a destination, it's a journey; and one well worth taking. The "feeling" of the film struck me as a cross between “The Yearling” and “Grapes of Wrath;” with "The Waltons" thrown in for good measure. Wait for and listen closely to friend Tim's little speech at the end of the film. Yes, it takes all of us to make this old world work. My thanks to the uploader. You did me a real favor.
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